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Copies, clones, links and aliases: summary in tables

Here are a couple of tables which summarise the most important features of different types of copies, clones, links and aliases used in Mojave running on APFS (with a little reference to HFS+ too).

The first shows succinctly how to create each type, according to whether you want it to point to individual files or folders, and whether you are sticking to the Finder and GUI or working in Terminal’s command line.

The second summarises the main properties and usage of each of those types, which should help you decide which is most appropriate for particular applications.

I hope that you find those useful. As they contain quite a lot of information, I may well have left some minor errors in them. If you do see anything which is either wrong or needs improvement, please let me know in a comment and I will update the table.

8Comments

I have had issues with files created in Mojave not opening in partitions running older versions of the macOS. And if I zip a file in Mojave, then transfer it to a partition running an older version of the macOS it does not unzip and sometimes recipes.

Is this on the same Mac dual-booting between different versions of macOS? Which versions?
APFS in Sierra (version 1), High Sierra (version 2) and Mojave (version 3) isn’t entirely compatible, and there are other hidden problems that can arise with Time Machine backups, etc., if you dual-boot between 10.12, 10.13 or 10.14.
If it’s between different single-boot Macs then I’m baffled – I’ve never come across a Zip issue like that.
Howard.

No. A 4 year old MacBook Pro MacBook Pro10,1) is running Mojave, and a much older iMac (iMac 9,1) has multiple partitions for macOS 10.5-10.9. It is moving files from Mojave to the older OS versions (across the network) that seems to be problematical. If I copy then to a flash drive I see less issues.